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( Momofuku Ando, 1910-2007 )
When I succeeded in developing instant noodles, I was already 48. So many people remarked to me that my success came late in life, but there is no such thing as late in life. You can invent something whether you're 50, 60, or older.
"Fun piled on a bun."
Jul. 22nd, 2006 01:38 pmRandom craving time. You know what I miss?
Manwich.
I could eat that shit right out of the can. Any sissy can make a sandwich, but a Manwich? Now that's what being a Man is all about.
Manwich.
I could eat that shit right out of the can. Any sissy can make a sandwich, but a Manwich? Now that's what being a Man is all about.
Tonight's insomniac recipe...
This isn't exactly the dish that I had at the Marietta Diner - that one was a lot more garlicky (due to the Greek nature of the place). But essentially, Chicken Scarpariello is basically chicken browned and cooked in a lemony white-wine sauce.
( Recipe follows )
This isn't exactly the dish that I had at the Marietta Diner - that one was a lot more garlicky (due to the Greek nature of the place). But essentially, Chicken Scarpariello is basically chicken browned and cooked in a lemony white-wine sauce.
( Recipe follows )
Adventures in Cooking: Bak Kut Teh
Feb. 13th, 2004 01:44 pmI made Bak Kut Teh (Hokkien, literally, "meat bone tea" - a traditional soup made with pork ribs and various herbs and spices)!
Thanks to my folks sending the proper spices to me in the care package I mentioned a few weeks ago, it came out great.
This really isn't much of a recipe because you really need to go down to an Asian market and hope they have the spices available (or order it online). The spices normally come pre-packaged these days, in a little filter bag that you dump into the soup. Just follow the directions on the packet.
But in general, for about 4 servings, take about 2 lbs of pork ribs, chopped into inch long chunks, 1 tbsp of thick soy sauce, 2 tbsps of light soy sauce, 12 whole cloves of garlic (more or less if you like it less garlicky).
Chuck them all in 1.5 quarts of boiling water together with the spice packet and simmer for about 35-40 minutes. Add salt and pepper to taste, if necessary (but probably isn't). Fish out the spice packet. Be careful not to puncture or tear it (the filter will probably be very delicate at this point) or else the spices inside will spill out into the soup and that might just be a bit too spicy for your taste.
Finally, chop up a handful of cilantro and stir it into the soup before serving with white rice and dark soy sauce to dip the ribs in. Oh, and Chinese tea, of course - tradition has it that the tea will cool down the spices and also take the edge off the oil from the pork ribs.
And there you go!
Thanks to my folks sending the proper spices to me in the care package I mentioned a few weeks ago, it came out great.
This really isn't much of a recipe because you really need to go down to an Asian market and hope they have the spices available (or order it online). The spices normally come pre-packaged these days, in a little filter bag that you dump into the soup. Just follow the directions on the packet.
But in general, for about 4 servings, take about 2 lbs of pork ribs, chopped into inch long chunks, 1 tbsp of thick soy sauce, 2 tbsps of light soy sauce, 12 whole cloves of garlic (more or less if you like it less garlicky).
Chuck them all in 1.5 quarts of boiling water together with the spice packet and simmer for about 35-40 minutes. Add salt and pepper to taste, if necessary (but probably isn't). Fish out the spice packet. Be careful not to puncture or tear it (the filter will probably be very delicate at this point) or else the spices inside will spill out into the soup and that might just be a bit too spicy for your taste.
Finally, chop up a handful of cilantro and stir it into the soup before serving with white rice and dark soy sauce to dip the ribs in. Oh, and Chinese tea, of course - tradition has it that the tea will cool down the spices and also take the edge off the oil from the pork ribs.
And there you go!
I can't help it - maybe it's built into the Chinese psyche, but no matter how successfully the food may have gone down with people, I still feel the need to apologize it was not as good as it was supposed to be.
Despite last night's effusive praise (which I appreciated - thank you, you're all very welcome) stuff I didn't do that I should have done include:
1. Cooking the rice with chicken bouillon cubes in the water to give it a more golden look and add flavor.
2. Using a frozen mixed vegetable medley (at the very least) instead of canned, which made the carrots mushy and the peas look kind of sickly.
3. Not forgetting to put the peanuts in the beef stir-fry (which I had actually bought but completely forgot about).
4. Stirring the gravy for the lion's head casserole a bit more so it didn't have tiny random lumps of cornstarch.
Okay, that's out of my system.
As promised, recipes. These three dishes could constitute full meals on their own, but together should feed a group of six quite well.
The beef stir-fry is just a variation on the basic chicken stir-fry that I did a few months ago - that can be found here. It's all in the sauce. I usually do the chicken version, but the beef - I used thinly sliced pepper steak - turned out to complement the sauce surprisingly well, and I think I'll use beef from now on with this one.
The chicken fried rice is a staple of my cooking, and the basic recipe can be found here. I've been using about a half-pound of chicken (2 breasts) these days, though, for the serving size in the recipe. I splash in some chinese wine during the cooking of the chicken, and a few dashes of poultry seasoning (I use Maggi Seasoning) to enhance the flavor.
I had a recipe for lion's head casserole here, but that's not the recipe I used last night. It still turns out okay, but it's not the way Mom makes it. Here's the recipe Mom gave me (adapted slightly):
( Recipe follows. )
Despite last night's effusive praise (which I appreciated - thank you, you're all very welcome) stuff I didn't do that I should have done include:
1. Cooking the rice with chicken bouillon cubes in the water to give it a more golden look and add flavor.
2. Using a frozen mixed vegetable medley (at the very least) instead of canned, which made the carrots mushy and the peas look kind of sickly.
3. Not forgetting to put the peanuts in the beef stir-fry (which I had actually bought but completely forgot about).
4. Stirring the gravy for the lion's head casserole a bit more so it didn't have tiny random lumps of cornstarch.
Okay, that's out of my system.
As promised, recipes. These three dishes could constitute full meals on their own, but together should feed a group of six quite well.
The beef stir-fry is just a variation on the basic chicken stir-fry that I did a few months ago - that can be found here. It's all in the sauce. I usually do the chicken version, but the beef - I used thinly sliced pepper steak - turned out to complement the sauce surprisingly well, and I think I'll use beef from now on with this one.
The chicken fried rice is a staple of my cooking, and the basic recipe can be found here. I've been using about a half-pound of chicken (2 breasts) these days, though, for the serving size in the recipe. I splash in some chinese wine during the cooking of the chicken, and a few dashes of poultry seasoning (I use Maggi Seasoning) to enhance the flavor.
I had a recipe for lion's head casserole here, but that's not the recipe I used last night. It still turns out okay, but it's not the way Mom makes it. Here's the recipe Mom gave me (adapted slightly):
( Recipe follows. )
Adventures in Cooking: Pasta Aglio Olio
Sep. 27th, 2003 08:09 amSpent most of yesterday unconscious and recovering from the last few days. Need to start on work now, though:
1. Finish grading freshman history exams.
2. Start reading "Twilight of the Gods", about the Scopes monkey trial, for American Legal History.
3. Start reading "Rabelais and his World" and write a five-pager on it due Friday for Theory and Practice.
4. Think about pulling together a bibliography for a research paper on Miranda v. Arizona for American Legal History.
In the meantime, I decided to have a change from rice, so I whipped this together quickly this morning. It's probably the most basic pasta sauce you can get, good both on its own or if you serve with side dishes.
( Recipe follows. )
1. Finish grading freshman history exams.
2. Start reading "Twilight of the Gods", about the Scopes monkey trial, for American Legal History.
3. Start reading "Rabelais and his World" and write a five-pager on it due Friday for Theory and Practice.
4. Think about pulling together a bibliography for a research paper on Miranda v. Arizona for American Legal History.
In the meantime, I decided to have a change from rice, so I whipped this together quickly this morning. It's probably the most basic pasta sauce you can get, good both on its own or if you serve with side dishes.
( Recipe follows. )
A quick and easy stir-fry dish I tossed together for a pot-luck dinner tonight. You can freely substitute whatever kinds of vegetables or meat you want, or leave out whatever ingredients - just make sure the meat is cooked through. The real taste lies in the sauce. The mix of red and green provides nice color, though.
( Recipe follows. )
( Recipe follows. )
Adventures in Cooking: Lion's Head Stew
Sep. 21st, 2003 07:29 amThis is a favorite of mine - when Mom made it that is. My own version has turned out still tasty, but not quite as good as Mom's (of course). I need to write her and ask her how she does hers and see if I can duplicate that experience, but this is the current recipe I use, for what it's worth, which obtained positive feedback.
To explain the name: the "lion's head" in the recipe is the fist-sized pork meatball, and the "mane" of the lion is the Napa cabbage that surrounds it in the stew.
( Recipe follows. )
To explain the name: the "lion's head" in the recipe is the fist-sized pork meatball, and the "mane" of the lion is the Napa cabbage that surrounds it in the stew.
( Recipe follows. )
Adventures In Cooking: Kung Pao Chicken
Sep. 21st, 2003 07:05 amRemember, no true scientist ever says that an experiment is a failure. There is no such thing: even an experiment gone awry provides valuable data. In this case, I found out yesterday that I should not overheat the dried chillies or I might set off the smoke alarm, flood the air with burning, tear gas-like fumes and send any guests running out of the apartment for safety, downing huge amounts of water, not to mention carbonizing the end of the wooden spatula I use for stir-frying and leaving burnt remains on the bottom of the wok.
Curiously, though, it still turned out pretty good. Go figure.
So remember - some recipes may tell you too cook the chillies until they are black. BE CAREFUL AND DO NOT USE HIGH HEAT. If you do so, you may re-enact Chernobyl. When these babies burn, they burn.
( Recipe follows. )
Curiously, though, it still turned out pretty good. Go figure.
So remember - some recipes may tell you too cook the chillies until they are black. BE CAREFUL AND DO NOT USE HIGH HEAT. If you do so, you may re-enact Chernobyl. When these babies burn, they burn.
( Recipe follows. )
Adventures in Cooking: Chinese Fried Rice
Sep. 20th, 2003 06:54 amThe beauty about fried rice is that you can chuck anything you want into it and it's easily adaptable to be kosher if you don't use say, pork or shrimp. The American equivalent would probably be Jambalaya, which I'll talk about in another entry. So if you have some raw meat leftover from another dish, say, consider using it.
I really cannot emphasise enough that if you want to consume rice on a regular basis (and really, it's a great staple), get yourself a proper rice cooker, and remember - it's 2 cups of water for every cup of rice - or, fill up the pot so that the water level is one knuckle-length of your index finger above the level of the rice. And always let the rice continue to steam for about 15-20 minutes even after the cooker goes off so it's not too soggy.
( Recipe follows )
I really cannot emphasise enough that if you want to consume rice on a regular basis (and really, it's a great staple), get yourself a proper rice cooker, and remember - it's 2 cups of water for every cup of rice - or, fill up the pot so that the water level is one knuckle-length of your index finger above the level of the rice. And always let the rice continue to steam for about 15-20 minutes even after the cooker goes off so it's not too soggy.
( Recipe follows )
Well, since we're sharing recipes... I've tried this twice now and it's turned out even better once I got the hang of not overcooking the tang hoon, which I'll point out at the appropriate juncture. The rice wine makes all the difference, really, giving it a sweet edge.
( Recipe follows )
( Recipe follows )
